1. Purpose
UrbanBook invests in discovery, customer trust, vendor tools, payments, support, safety, dispute handling, and marketplace growth. This policy explains when customers and vendors must keep transactions on UrbanBook and what conduct is prohibited.
2. Core Rule
Where UrbanBook requires an order, booking, quote, ticket, rental, stay, service, delivery, or payment to be completed through the platform, customers and vendors must not move that transaction outside UrbanBook to avoid fees, records, customer protection, vendor accountability, safety processes, or support handling.
3. Prohibited Conduct
Vendors and customers must not:
- Ask to pay or be paid outside UrbanBook for a transaction started on UrbanBook.
- Share private payment instructions to avoid UrbanBook checkout.
- Cancel a platform booking and recreate it privately.
- Use UrbanBook messages to redirect customers to external payment links where prohibited.
- Offer discounts only if the customer avoids UrbanBook.
- Mark orders or bookings as cancelled while fulfilling privately.
- Hide completed work from UrbanBook.
- Use customer information from UrbanBook for private repeat transactions where UrbanBook rules prohibit it.
- Pressure customers to communicate outside approved channels before confirmation where the platform restricts contact.
4. Allowed Contact
UrbanBook may allow direct contact in certain cases, such as urgent access, delivery coordination, post-booking communication, premium vendor plans, customer support, emergencies, or categories where direct contact is permitted.
Allowed contact does not mean allowed fee avoidance. If UrbanBook requires the transaction to remain on-platform, payment and records must remain on-platform unless UrbanBook approves otherwise.
5. Vendor Plans and Contact Visibility
UrbanBook may offer different vendor plans with different contact visibility, marketplace tools, or customer communication options. Vendors must follow the rules of their plan and category.
Vendors must not use plan features to avoid required platform transactions or mislead customers about UrbanBook's role.
6. Customer Protection
Transactions moved off UrbanBook may lose UrbanBook support, refund review, booking records, receipts, dispute handling, safety protections, and platform remedies. UrbanBook may refuse to assist with private arrangements that were moved off-platform in violation of this policy.
7. Enforcement
UrbanBook may issue warnings, remove messages, restrict contact tools, cancel transactions, charge fees owed, hold payouts, reduce visibility, suspend listings, terminate vendor access, restrict customer accounts, or take legal action where off-platform leakage occurs.
UrbanBook is not required to disclose private detection methods or thresholds.
8. Reporting
Customers should report vendors who request prohibited off-platform payment. Vendors should report customers who ask to avoid UrbanBook payment or records.